What They Always Tell Us
Sixteen-year-old Alex feels so disconnected from his friends that he starts his junior year at a Tuscaloosa, Alabama, high school by attempting suicide, but soon, a friend of his older brother draws him into cross-country running and a new understanding of himself.
FIC
year: 2008
copies: 11
call number/section: FIC
lexile: 810
subjects: social isolation, brothers [X], self-actualization (psychology) [X], high schools, schools, tuscaloosa (ala.), family, loneliness, self-realization, homosexuality, family life, school stories, families [X]
Knockout
Told in assonant free verse, Levi was once a premature baby who suffered from respiratory problems; he recovered, and now in seventh grade, he struggles to demonstrate to his divorced mother and overprotective brother that he is okay--so when his father suggests he take up boxing he falls in love with the sport, but he still must find a way to convince his family to set him free to follow his dream.
FIC
year: 2020
copies: 42
call number/section: FIC
lexile: 610
subjects: self-actualization (psychology) [X], brothers [X], fathers and sons, mothers and sons, divorce, boxing, novels in verse, boxing stories, children of divorced parents, prematurely born children, boys, families [X], family life, self-realization, novels in verse, sports fiction, humorous fiction